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.With it came rain and leaves,scattered across my bed.It dampened the linen ofmy nightshirt and made it a second skin, clinginglike funeral wrappings and smelling of the grave.I was wet, cold and wet, and astonished by thestorm.It filled my chamber with fury, hammering atthe palace, hammering at my ears.Lightning lit up thecasement and invited the thunder in.I flinched from the sound, and then knew it wasmore than thunder.It was the crash of wood onstone; the dull ring of iron unbolted.Taliesin stood in my room."Keely," he said,"come."I went, and at once, dragging the weight of cling-ing linen up around my knees."Where is he?" Iasked as we shut the door behind us."Where has hegone? He cannot be here—he would know."Taliesin bolted the door so it looked the same asbefore."The violence of the storm has drawn theirattention, interfering with a rite of obeisance to theSeker.Strahan has set all the guards to searching fordamage.My own, so abruptly summoned, forgot toset a watch-ward; it was easy for me to unlock mydoor with a bit of the of d magic." Wryly, he smiled."I had put away such things because of how it hasbeen perverted by Strahan and others like him.I wasnot certain I could summon it, but a little of it came.Enough to get me free.""And me.""And you.There was a watch-ward on your lock,but it was easy enough to break.Strahan expectedno trouble from an Ihlini; it was set against Cheysuli."Frowning, he stretched out a gnarled hand."I shallhave to make one myself, so no one knows you havegone.Step back, Keely.your nearness may warpthe power."Aye, so it might.We were too close to one another,our magic neutralized.I had no recourse to lir-shapeor any of the gifts, he could barely summon thegodfire to make his crude little rune.I moved away, scraping along the wall.The windhad torn open all the shutters and come in unin-vited, blowing out candles, lamps, torches.It filledthe palace with darkness.It filled me with trepida-tion: Strahan could be near."Hurry," I whispered urgently, as he summonedhis share of godfire.I saw light, tiny light, dancing on fingernails.Suchfragile, twisted hands conjuring fragile, twisted light.It glowed purple in the darkness and set his eyesaglitter.He knitted the individual flames together into one,forming a knotted rune.Its brilliance made mesquint—and then it began to gutter.The strain was plain in his face.His flesh wasdamp with it."Farther," he urged."Only a little,Keely.you are still too close to me.It is a watch-ward against Cheysuli—if it senses you, it can killyou, or at least bring Strahan to us."I might be too close even outside the walls.Andeven then, it might not matter; this was the CrystalIsle.As sacred to the Cheysuli as Valgaard to theIhlini."Farther," he whispered urgently, as the runeintensified.It leaned toward me, like a hunting hound catch-ing a scent.And it knew me, just as Taliesin hadpromised.It tasted Cheysuli in my blood.Taliesin whispered something to it, soothing asfather to child.I did not know the words, havinglearned no Ihlini.But clearly the rune understood.It bathed his face with light, then bowed in the palmof his hand.The harper turned.He placed his forefinger againstthe lock, shut his eyes, sent the fire from flesh toiron.I saw it begin to glow."Weak," he muttered, "too weak.but it willhave to do."He turned, saw me waiting, came away down thecorridor.Took my hand, squeezed it, led me down awinding stairway to a low, arched door.Beyondhowled the storm."There is a bailey," he said, "and gates.He willhave set watch-wards there as well, to keep us in—ifI can, I will break them.If not, we shall have to findanother way."Taliesin pushed open the door and let the storminside the palace.It soaked us both at once, pastingthe linen to me and flattening hair against scalp andshoulders.We waited for the lightning, huddling in the door-way.And then, when it came, he pointed a twistedfinger."There," he said, "the gate." It was just viablethrough the rain, blackness tarnished silver by a neck-lace of lightning clinging to the sky.I ran, squinting and mouthing curses, clutchingsodden linen now heavy and cumbersome.I wasbarefoot and cold, nearly knocked down by the forceof the wind.Now I cursed aloud; Strahan wouldnever hear me.Only the roar of the storm.Wet cobbles were slick and treacherous under myfeet.Moss softened as did mud, turning the baileyinto a morass.The palace had been too long unat-tended, and the lack of care showed.It made theplace dangerous."Here—" Taliesin caught my arm, pulled me close.We had reached the massive gate and huddled at itsfoot."Watch-wards." A trace of Ihlini godfire clung toiron crossbars."Can you break them?""If not, we are trapped.This is the only way out."He stood in the wind and the rain, trembling fromthe effort it took to stand upright against the storm."Stay down," he said, "stay down.This will take time,and I fear we have little left.Strahan is not stupid."I hunched down at the foot of the gate, craningmy head to watch.Rain filled my eyes again andagain even against an upraised hand.How he labored, Taliesin, drawing on self-exiledpower, on his tremendous strength of will.I storedfixedly at his face and saw the tension there, theenormous effort expended, and all on my behalf.AnIhlini serving Cheysuli, risking his life to do it.His alien, Ihlini face, so very much like my own.Itis the color that makes us different.They are sooften black-haired, even as we are, but there thesameness in color ends.Fair-skinned, the Ihlini; weare, for the most part, dark.And they lack yelloweyes.But the pride is the same, and the arrogance,the single-minded determination.You have only tolook at the faces, at the shapes of distinctive bonesand the fit of the flesh over them.For too long we have been blind.For too long wehave not looked, afraid to admit the truth.Strahan was kin, I knew, in spirit as well as blood.He was Teirnan in different flesh, striving for dif-ferent goals, but serving the same dark end.Theend of the prophecy.I stared blindly across the bailey, lashes beat downby the rain.Why do we have to be one? Why not leave usdivided? Sharing power equally, not fighting for all of it.not risking lir and lifestones.Both children of thegods—"Keely," Taliesin gasped, "I cannot.I am too longout of practice.the wards are too strong forme—" He bent over, coughing, and I saw how hecradled his hands.The tips of his fingers were burned."Strahan holds my lifestone at this very moment.I can sense it, I can feel it.Keely—Strahan knows—"I stood back from the gate and stared up."If Icould only take lir-shape—" But I cut it off at once.There is no sense in wishing aloud for what youcannot have."We will climb," I said firmly."There is-no other choice."He interlaced ruined fingers to form a step."Thenallow me to be your servant
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